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Smashing IT’s Glass Ceiling

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In a new report from Deloitte’s U.S. CIO Program, executive women in technology share the skills and traits that helped them reach the top.

No shortage of ink has been spilled on the challenges faced by women in today’s IT workforce. Although many business leaders and corporate boards are taking steps to improve C-suite diversity, women continue to be underrepresented in the technology workforce and in technology leadership. In the U.S., multiple analyses peg the percentage of female CIOs in larger companies at between 17 and 22 percent.¹

Even though they often faced challenges such as hiring biases, male-oriented IT cultures, inflexible work environments, widespread pay disparities, and a lack of female mentors and sponsors, many highly competent and qualified women have risen through the ranks to become CIOs. A new report from Deloitte’s U.S. CIO Program sheds light on the personality traits and leadership capabilities that may help them succeed and provides suggestions for developing more gender-diverse IT organizations.

Essential Leadership Traits

Veteran technology leaders interviewed for the report regard success as the result of working hard to develop deep technology and business expertise in the absence of traditional “old boy” networks. They also had to learn how technology can help solve business challenges and to speak in terms of both business and IT.

“When I was pursuing my master’s degree in nuclear physics, there weren’t a lot of female role models, professors, or students,” says Suma Nallapati, secretary of technology and CIO for the state of Colorado. “I learned early on that I had to stand up and speak up, home in on my knowledge, and keep on top of my game. That experience shaped my career in IT.”

Women often bring skills and traits such as empathy and compassion to the C-suite. “Most women are people-oriented, and some of us focus more on people than we do on the details of technology,” says Fumbi Chima, CIO of Fox Networks Group. “We have genuine empathy for others that many of our male counterparts lack. I don’t think that’s acceptable—there has to be compassion.”

Communication skills can help women build successful relationships across the organization. “Early in my career, I learned how important it is to build strong peer relationships,” says Monique Shivanandan, group CIO of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. “I really work hard to build strong, trust-based relationships—not just vertically, but horizontally as well.”

Confidence and assertiveness are other attributes these leaders found invaluable on the path to CIO. “I’ve always taken difficult roles and tough projects, such as transformations, that no one wants to do,” says Chima. “People may think you’re going to fail, and many times you do fail, but I’ve always been resilient. You have to have the leadership and tenacity to help solve very complex business problems.”

“Women often don’t raise their hands as high—or at all. We’re more likely to self-select out of a challenge or opportunity than men are,” says Julie Lagacy, CIO and VP of global information services at Caterpillar, Inc. “The attitude is, ‘If I haven’t done this before or I’m not a real expert, then I’m not good enough to do it.’”

‘Women often don’t raise their hands as high—or at all. We’re more likely to self-select out of a challenge or opportunity than men are.’

The antidote may be for women to surround themselves with people who have the skills and knowledge they lack and to ask questions when they need to. “When I mentor people, one piece of advice I share is to stop apologizing for not knowing everything,” says Lagacy. “It makes it seem that you’re not confident. It’s OK to not know. What is important is continually learning and taking the initiative to find the answer.”

Achieving Gender Parity in IT

These guidelines can help IT organizations turn aspirations for achieving gender parity into reality. The goal is to plug the leaks in the C-suite pipeline by creating a more diverse and inclusive organization, while simultaneously increasing the percentage of women technologists in the pipeline.

Create more gender-diverse IT organizations. Companies can attract, hire, and retain female technology talent by removing gender biases from the hiring process through such steps as instituting blind resume review, applying artificial intelligence to candidate screening and interviewing, eliminating gender-based wage gaps, and updating IT and HR policies that exclude or alienate women. Examples include offering more family leave for both genders, child care options, and flexible work arrangements.

A common practice for many IT organizations is to partner externally to engage the next generation of female technologists by encouraging them to study STEM in schools, improving their access to technologies and tools, creating safe spaces where they can experiment with technology and connect with others, and providing them with women role models and mentors.

Build more inclusive IT cultures. Today’s CIOs are often expected to create IT organizations that are not only more diverse, but also more inclusive. In inclusive cultures, all employees are able to be authentic and thrive, regardless of gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, or other characteristics. In IT, this may require taming infamous “brogrammer” cultures, a task that can often be difficult because of resistance to change.

CIOs can create more hospitable environments by establishing ground rules that support equality and having zero tolerance for rule-breakers. This requires IT and HR leaders to commit to taking bias or harassment complaints seriously and investigating and mitigating them fairly. They can also take steps to recognize and eliminate biases that limit women’s advancement opportunities. They may need to be retrained to evaluate and reward staff who communicate, collaborate, and work in different ways.

Fill the management and leadership pipeline with high-performing women. A clear path for advancing and developing female talent can increase the opportunities for female representation in management and leadership.

Studies suggest that women’s promotions may depend on performance, while men’s promotions rely on potential. CIOs can alleviate this bias by proactively identifying potentially high-performing women early in their careers. This can help ensure high-potential employees have access to the resources needed to advance—a formal leadership development program, career road maps, learning and development plans, formal and informal mentoring and sponsorship opportunities, and, if applicable, rotating assignments for global and/or functional experience.

Women technologists can benefit from having mentors, whose role is to listen and advise, and sponsors, who have direct management experience and are willing to advocate for development and growth. Sponsors and mentors can help inspire, protect, and advance women technologists, giving them access to networks that many women lack. Women in STEM careers who have sponsors are significantly more likely to ask for a raise, be satisfied with their rate of promotion, and have their ideas endorsed, developed, and implemented.

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A distinctive set of traits, including empathy, flexibility, persuasiveness, and assertiveness, may help women advance through the IT ranks to become CIOs—and could help them be effective leaders. To encourage top women technologists to rise to the executive level, IT and HR leaders can refine hiring and HR policies to develop more diverse IT organizations; create inclusive IT cultures that support all employees, regardless of gender or other identity; and steer women technologists into managerial and leadership roles by improving career development and providing access to mentors and sponsors.

Smashing IT’s Glass Ceiling

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